Lee Irving Inner Piece Counselling

About me

Hello, my name is Lee Irving!

I offer Humanistic, Person Centred counselling in Kendal and the South Lakeland area, tailor made for you. Provided in a quiet, comfortable location within an accepting, non-judgemental, genuine and empathic environment in which you can explore your inner world where, I believe, you will rediscover your true direction.

I would like to take this opportunity to say ‘well done’ to you for taking this first step, this first step which could lead onto a life changing journey. I admire and respect your courage.

My approach is firmly grounded in Person Centred theory and practice but I believe that different people need different things at different times. Because of this I am also open to using methods and techniques from other schools within the counselling field.

Person Centred counselling is a talking therapy in which I create a deep, trusting, accepting and honest relationship through modelling genuineness and expressing an empathic understanding of your life. Not just being sympathetic to what your experiencing but seeing it from your frame of reference, as if I were in your shoes looking out through your eyes and feeling what you feel.

Once our relationship is created and you feel safe and supported, I will be there as your companion while you explore your inner world. I’ll help you make sense of it through reflection, gentle questioning and challenge.

As we progress we will regularly review our work together and, if needed, I will use my skill and flexibility to introduce new methods and techniques that we feel are appropriate and effective for you.

Your commitment to the process is just as vital as mine, only by working together can you get the results you hope for. I am not here to tell you what to do or give you my advice as that would presume that I know you better than yourself.

I am not the expert on you…you are, and I strongly believe that you have all the answers you need to move on in your life. My job is to help you access them and put them into practice.

Outdoor Therapy

I also offer counselling in the stimulating and freeing environment of the outdoors.

Nature and exercise play an intrinsic part in our natural wellbeing and often a reconnection with nature can have a powerful therapeutic effect on us all. Counselling outdoors can add a new dimension to the work we do as it provides a natural playground in which you can express yourself through art or craft using the materials around you such as sticks, pebbles or autumn leaves.

Outdoor therapy can be a simple walk in the park whilst conducting a similar session to one in the counselling room to a longer walk in the hills of the Lake District and Kendal area.

I am fully insured and trained in outdoor first aid and would only work within the competencies of us both. I would require the client to fill out a health questionnaire before the commencement of outdoor therapy to ascertain the suitability and level of this activity.

Guided Meditation

Many feelings of distress can be related to our minds living in the past or future. Traumatic or unhappy past events can be relived again and again, often leading to depression or low self-esteem. Anxiety and stress are often related to potential future events seen as threats. And yet there is nothing we can do about the past and the future doesn’t even exist.

Meditation teaches us a way of escaping these two realms where the mind likes to reside, bringing it into the peace of the present moment. In time and with regular practice you will notice that the past and future have less power over you as your mind spends more time in the here and now.

A short guided meditation can be added to the beginning or end of a standard counselling session to either set your mind in a more receptive state or to help consolidate what you have learned and prepare for re-entering the outside world.

Training, qualifications & experience

I am a qualified counsellor with a HE Diploma (level 4) in therapeutic counselling and a registered member of BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). As a member I am subject to their codes of ethical conduct and complaints procedure which can be found and viewed at http://www.bacp.co.uk.

I have experience in working with a large range of mental health issues in my role as counsellor for South Lakeland Mind.